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A plan to ID students Culpeper High to require badges

Culpeper High students will be required to wear photo ID badges during school hours

By DONNIE JOHNSTON

Date published: 8/20/2005

A new Culpeper County High School rule requiring students to wear photo identification badges at all times during school hours is meeting with mixed reviews.

"It makes you feel like you're in prison," said Laura Ames, a rising junior. "You have to identify yourself all the time like you're in trouble."

"Maybe it's a step toward getting the school under control, but I still think it's pointless," said Noel Spence, also a junior.

Pointless or not, wearing a photo ID around your neck will be the rule this school year, and students who don't have their badges displayed will be subject to disciplinary action.

"We're treating it like part of our dress code," said Culpeper High Principal Eric Porter.

That means a student receives a warning the first time the badge is not visibly displayed, with lunch detention and in-school suspension coming into play for subsequent violations.

As alluded to by Spence, the new regulation is being implemented to keep Culpeper High's exploding student population under control. No other county schools will require badges.

"It will help with the security and safety of all the students in the school," Porter said. "[A photo ID system] helps when you have that many kids."

"That many kids" is still an unknown number, but the closest guess is that about 2,100 students will be enrolled this fall in a school designed for 1,500.

With halls packed and classes being held in two (soon to be three) different buildings, teachers and administrators are finding it increasing difficult to figure out just who is who.

"We could have kids that have graduated in here or kids from other schools," Porter said. "This will help teachers identify students."

"I've had students that were misbehaving refuse to tell me their names," said veteran math teacher Nancy Lenz. "[Having students wear ID badges] gives you a certain amount of control if someone is doing something inappropriate."

Lenz admits, however, that she is not completely sold on the idea.

"I have mixed feelings," she said. "In some ways it seems impractical. I sometimes have a hard time getting my things together, and students may have a hard time remembering their badges."

And, as with any new concept, Lenz has no illusions that all students will embrace the ID-badge concept.

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Date published: 8/20/2005